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This soft, slightly sweet Turkish flatbread is the perfect companion for dips, humus or gyros.
Yes: let’s make some pide ekmek or pide ramadan (“pee-deh”). This Turkish bread is a standard side dish for meals all over Turkey, and is nice and soft on the inside, with big holes and a golden brown crust. It tastes really good with hummus, but trust me, it tastes even better with gyros. You can make one really frighteningly large bread, two more reasonable sized breads or four smaller buns.
Pide Ramadam
This bread is a cornerstone bake in the Turkish cuisine, and a standard food in Turkish restaurants, shops, as well as many family dinner tables. When you go to Turkish or middle-eastern specialty shops, you will find this in different styles and sizes. Very common are the large ones, sort of oval, and the size of a pizza plate. Cut – or rather tear – off a piece and use it to dip up hummus, spreads and divine treats like labneh and halaweh or halva. The smaller ones are ideal for the kebab sandwich.
This bread is baked for a short amount of time, and using the highest temperature your oven can handle. Try it: you’ll love it.
Pide
Ingredients
- 500 grams All-purpose flour
- 350 milliliter Water
- 50 milliliter Milk
- 25 milliliter Oil (Sunflower, canola)
- 15 grams Sugar
- 10 grams Salt
- 10 grams Yeast
- 1 Egg yolk
- Sesame and nigella seeds to sprinkle
- Semolina flour
Instructions
Utensil
- Large bowl
- Dough scraper
- Measuring cup, scale, small bowl
- Kitchen towel, clean film or cover lid for the bowl
- Pizza stone, or a thick, heavy baking sheet and baking parchment paper, capable of withstanding high temperatures
- A pizza peel, or large flat baking sheet with no edges if you use the stone
- Baker’s brush
Preparation
- Put all the flour in the bowl of your mixer. Add the yeast to one side of the bowl, and the salt and sugar to the other side. The salt and yeast should not come in direct contact or the yeast will lose its effect. Add the water and start mixing.
- Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes, until the texture of the dough has changed into a soft, smooth and silky feel. The dough is ready when you are able create a window of about half a centimeter thick between your hands when you pull the dough apart. If it tears and raffles easily, continue for a bit.
- Grease up your large, clean bowl with a little bit of oil, and place the bowl, covered by the lid cover, kitchen towel or clean film on warm spot. Avoid direct heat or the full hot sun as this will dry out your dough. Leave to rise for about an hour, or until it has doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 260oC or 500oF. If you use a pizza stone, place the stone in the cold oven and allow for it to heat up along with the oven. Never place your cold stone in a preheated oven. If you use a baking sheet, place it in the oven upside down, that will help you slide the dough in without folding and deflating it.
- Use the dough scraper to release the dough from the sides of the bowl, and turn it on the kitchen counter top. Depending on your preferred yield, leave as is or cut in 2 or 4 evenly sized pieces.
- Dust a large, clear area of the counter top and shape the dough in balls. Cover with a towel and leave to rest for 20 minutes.
- Now comes the tricky bit. Place some coarse corn meal or semolina on your pizza peel or flat baking sheet. That will act like ball bearings when you slide the loafs in the oven. Gently prod in the dough with your fingers, fattening it evenly. Leave the edges of the bread to be higher.
- Whisk together the milk, oil and egg yolk and brush it on using the brush. Sprinkle the seeds on top.
- Place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the baking sheet.
Baking
- Carefully place the shaped dough in the oven, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Repeat for more breads.
- Place on a cooling rack to cool down, but eat when it is still warm.